Defending Earth (In the System Book #3): LitRPG Series Read online

  “We’re here,” the driver nodded. “See those high-rise buildings? We won’t go inside, okay? I assume you can figure things out on your own?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  I was taken to the right address and I was meant to sort out the rest. Commendable courtesy. I was a ‘big boy’ so I could find the way myself, but the lack of direct control indicated that someone smart had thought out this behavior strategy. After all, it wasn’t enough for you to be aware of the situation, you wanted the other side to appreciate it as well. People tended to distrust the state, and while I believed that there was no way to keep me by force, I subconsciously kept expecting some typical scenarios. For example, being sent to some closed city instead of getting an apartment in the capital, and having my freedom restricted in general.

  Perhaps I was being watched even now. I could potentially turn around and go anywhere I wanted. To the Embassy of Japan, for example. Or to the nearest supermarket. I chose the latter option and went to purchase some foodstuffs. I didn’t get too carried away, nor did I sneak the groceries into my player bag, mindful of becoming an unwitting star of popular video hosting sites.

  Okay, where to from here? My navigation app obediently supplied the route. The courtyard was guarded and fenced off, but all I needed was a key to enter. Or a pass. I had both, and they were obviously expecting my arrival, so there were no problems with getting inside.

  * * *

  “Home, sweet home,” I murmured. “My fortress.”

  The door was impressive, with a couple of high-quality locks that took me about a minute to open. Of course, if one had a duplicate key and the desire, one could get in faster, but I also found a deadbolt on the inside, which allayed my paranoia. Nevertheless, I had to keep in mind that the special services could easily get inside in my absence...

  I walked through the rooms, looking around. I had been given a decent one-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor, in a reasonable part of the city. The building was well-designed, with high ceilings, thick walls and a large enclosed balcony. The apartment was already furnished and had appliances and everything else necessary for living. This opulence was accompanied by an underground parking spot and even a company car. I had checked the parking lot on my way back, to see the acquisition with my own eyes, and was quite satisfied. A recent change in the law prohibited the use of foreign cars by civil servants, so my Mercedes had been assembled somewhere in the Moscow Region last year. It was lucky that I had a driver’s license, because I doubted that I’d been assigned a personal driver otherwise. As far as I knew, there was a service bus that stopped here in the mornings.

  “Motherland, can you hear me?” Even the neighbors could hear me in a typical apartment complex, but the soundproofing here was excellent. There was no answer, of course.

  While I examined my acquisition, the raven, whom I’d released from the sarcophagus, circled the room and chose a place to nest on top of the cabinet. He ruffled his feathers, then left the shell to join Bri in checking the apartment for any bugs. I was promised there wouldn’t be any, but who knew? The ghosts had to check the apartment and explore the surrounding area.

  As I waited for them to return, I put the groceries in the fridge, set a pot on the stove, turned on the kettle, and began pulling my personal belongings out of the bag. When I’d left St. Petersburg, I’d had a suspicion that I wouldn’t be returning home for a while, so I’d taken the most valuable things with me. Since I wasn’t going back there anytime soon, I had given the apartment keys to my superiors, along with a list of things I wanted to see in the new place. The main goal was to hand over the plant samples I’d collected during the missions. Some of them had survived and now had considerable research value. Maybe. I recognized many of the plants thanks to my goblin skills, but most were different sorts of nameless weed. There were a few useful plants that could be thrown into the cauldron. A couple as condiments and a couple to poison the enemies. As long as it wasn’t the same cauldron.

  Anyway, I’d let the nerds figure it out, but I’d basically imported a bunch of different alien weeds from my first mission. Russian science was going to thank me forever.

  “Maybe they’ll even name one of the weeds after me,” I said thoughtfully. “I have a lot of names and they’re all good ones.”

  The ‘plantation’ needed to be sorted out in any case, for although I’d paid a neighbor to do the watering and had given her a set of keys, leaving alien flora under someone else’s supervision was clearly not a good idea. The seeds I’d obtained in the goblin fortress were more interesting, since they were useful plants that could be cultivated. I had kept some for myself, and gave the rest to the research department. I hadn’t even asked for money. Not because I couldn’t, but because I’d already been given a lot, and it would be hard to build trust if I demanded payment for every little thing. I viewed it as an investment. Few things are as expensive as freebies, and I was going to take full advantage of my country. To our mutual benefit, of course…

  I speared a sausage with my fork and bit into it. By the time I’d finished supper, the raven had flown into the kitchen and was devouring his own portion of meat, while also reporting what he’d found. There were no beacons, cameras or magic crystals found inside the apartment. Of course, this didn’t guarantee that the apartment wasn’t being monitored, since there were all kinds of remote methods, but I wasn’t too worried about that. I wasn’t shy, I mostly communicated with my vassals in my head, and I hadn’t yet reached the stage where my mumbling would give away any secrets.

  However, cameras hung openly in the corridors and the stairwells, transmitting to the security post on the ground floor and, according to the ghosts, into one of the apartments. While the ground-floor post was staffed by a typical security guard, the reserve post contained three men in bulletproof vests and with machine guns. They weren’t only guarding me, for there were plenty of bigwigs and other players living in the building.

  * * *

  It was almost ten o’clock, so I found the remote control on the table, turned on the TV, made some nastoyka-fortified tea, and collapsed into an armchair. Friday... the best day to announce the coming apocalypse. From what I’d understood, several governments were going to address their nations tonight, and were it not for the need to agree on the content, the announcement could have been made much earlier.

  “Attention! The President’s emergency address is about to begin! Please listen to the information and pass it on to others.” A video showing the Kremlin started playing. It was live, as far as I could tell. A flag fluttered above the tower, indicating that the head of state was in residence. The clock in the corner reached 10:00 pm, and President Ivanov appeared on the screen. Not a very interesting figure, really. He was about fifty years old, had taken office less than a year ago and hadn’t done anything exceptional in that time. Furthermore, he’d only won the election in the second round, after an intense struggle. He was the protégé of his predecessor, and that was all one could say about him.

  “Dear citizens of Russia,” the address began with the classical phrase passed on from one president to another. “I urge you to take everything said here seriously, no matter how implausible the facts may sound. Many of you have noticed a series of news reports about attacks on people around the world by unknown creatures in recent months.”

  Several news clips were shown in the corner of the screen, one after another. Yeti... goblins... some other strange creatures… The raven perked up and flew from his ‘nest’ on top of the cabinet to perch on the back of my armchair. He didn’t even comment on the images on the screen.

  “Unfortunately, the videos we are showing you have not been altered, these creatures are real. They are aliens from other dimensions. It is not known exactly how they are coming here. They lack spacecraft or high technologies, but they are transported over vast distances, and many possess inexplicable abilities that modern science cannot explain.”

  One of my six-eyed dogs appeared o
n the screen. It was released into a huge cage containing a pile of slime. The hound rushed into it without hesitation and morphed into an enormous monster a minute later, which then launched itself straight at the bars, through which the scene was being filmed. It looked very impressive. The video ended, and the President returned to the screen.

  “Unfortunately, most of the aliens are extremely hostile. Many simply lack intelligence and are simply aggressive beasts, but the intelligent ones are no better…”

  We were again showed footage of the invasions, although the corpses were modestly pixelated so as not to shock the public.

  “Therefore, if you encounter any unfamiliar creatures, you should immediately leave the area of contact. Then call the police or one of the phone numbers displayed on the screen. Do not forget that, in addition to the physical threat, monsters can also be carriers of unknown diseases. Anyone who has met one should avoid contact with other people and get tested as soon as possible. A special coordination center has been set up to deal with this issue, operating around the clock. Rapid response teams are being created in each residential area to ensure the safety of our citizens. This applies not only to cities, but also to villages.”

  The corner of the screen showed armed soldiers in combat suits, tanks, helicopters, and so on, and so on. Anything to demonstrate the country’s might and calm people down somewhat…

  “We do not recommend venturing into the countryside unless absolutely necessary, since aliens can remain undetected for a long time in an unpopulated area. Do not panic, for most aliens are relatively weak and are armed only with bladed weapons. In addition, our world is different to what they know, which weakens their defenses and, with some luck, an ordinary adult man can overpower some of them. If you are left with no choice, you can defend yourself beyond the limits of self-defense.”

  The figure of a man and a goblin appeared on the screen. The goblin looked much more pitiful and weak, like a child... Then the picture of a yeti appeared, and now the human figure looked like a child.

  “In addition to the monsters, some people have developed various... psychic abilities. If this happens to you, please call the registration center on the second number displayed on the screen. A law will soon be introduced making registration mandatory, and evasion will be considered an administrative offense.”

  I noted that information about the System and missions, as well as how some people became players, had been omitted. I suspected that the registration center would soon be inundated with calls from various weirdos. On the other hand, it would be easy to filter them out.

  “This is what a person with superpowers might look like.”

  The screen showed a dummy wearing the basic player outfit. No explanation was given as to why superheroes would walk around wearing this kind of cosplay. There was no mention of the gods. Apparently, they’d decided to hold this information back for now since it would sound too improbable. I doubted this was the case only in my country.

  “Nevertheless, there is no reason to panic. The threat is considered low at present, these invasions are infrequent, and the government is working hard to ensure your safety. The terrorism threat level in the country will be raised to blue from tomorrow. A curfew is being imposed on all populated areas so it will be strictly forbidden to be outdoors after midnight. The process for acquiring a firearms license will be simplified. If the situation worsens, these measures may be strengthened. However, I believe that we can get through this together! Be careful and look after yourself.”

  The image changed to a middle-aged presenter who nodded wearily at the camera, “That was an address by Vladimir Ivanov, the President of Russia. I would like to remind you that you can contact the coordination center by calling… More detailed information can be found on the website… In addition, a special program will be shown in ten minutes, which will explain the situation in more detail. Please view it in full, the safety of you and your loved ones may depend on it.”

  * * *

  I watched the program, but didn’t really learn anything new. Apart from the same video clips and calls for caution, several players appeared in this program. They demonstrated their abilities, summoning their weapon being the most popular. But a young woman froze a small puddle, while an older man lifted several steel balls into the air. All the players wore masks, of course.

  The website duplicated the information, but was otherwise practically empty. The only noteworthy thing was a more extended call for superheroes to come forward. There was a promise of state aid, money, protection and support, but nothing specific was mentioned. They also didn’t announce a punishment for evasion, probably to avoid scaring off potential volunteers. Plus, the law hadn’t yet been adopted, from my understanding.

  Out of curiosity, I watched the address of the American President. Clinton looked old and tired compared to the Russian President. He could have used a healer, but he spoke convincingly, saying essentially the same thing. The only difference was that he had a different term for the players. I supposed we’d have superheroes and supervillains soon, and then we’d be only one step away from the Justice League. Quite a strange concept, in my opinion, which had been firmly embedded in Western culture.

  Leaders of other countries said things along similar lines, but I didn’t watch their speeches in full, especially since only the automatic subtitles were available. I doubted their speeches were much different. In any case, the world had officially changed from this day forth, and although the word ‘magic’ hadn’t been mentioned, it would soon cease to be seen as something unbelievable…

  Forums and media websites were in chaos. If I was to extrapolate what I was reading, there had to be hundreds of thousands of players in the world, whom I’d never even heard of. Elite ones with abilities that made mine look miniscule. Trolls... I snorted and wrote that I could become invisible, then watched the comment rapidly drown under dislikes and skeptical sneers. Many people considered everything that was happening to be nothing but a joke.

  I didn’t bother proving that I was speaking the truth, but snorted again and closed the laptop. Although tomorrow was technically the weekend, it wasn’t like players had to worry about complying with labor laws. A mission could arise at any time, and we had to be ready.

  I lay down on the couch and activated the Calculating Mind. Today had not been an easy day, and it would be rational to calm down a little before going to bed. So far, everything seemed to be going well.

  The trick worked. I fell asleep quickly and didn’t dream of goblins. I was flying in my dream… until my plane was attacked by a Bone Dragon. Even if the fighter jets were running a little late, this time, I had a parachute. I floated gently downwards, while bone shards rained down from the sky. There was a disturbing number of fragments, while the ground below was littered with them all the way to the horizon.

  * * *

  Rest only in our dreams. In my case, however, not even in dreams. It was three o’clock in the morning, and I should have been enjoying my nightmare for another four hours, when suddenly:

  Attention! Ingress registered!

  Protection of home location

  Difficulty: F-.

  Opponent: Unknown.

  Mission duration: 1 hour.

  Conditions:

  Banish, negotiate with or destroy the alien who has entered your world.

  Reward: access to the Server.

  Penalty for failure: none.

  Would you like to accept an optional local mission (F-) to protect your home location? (0/1)

  Yes/No

  Time remaining: 2 hours 59 minutes and 34 seconds.

  How was one supposed to sleep like this? I suspected that I wasn’t the only one who had received this message. Now I’d have to wait three hours until the die was cast automatically or someone volunteered.

  I looked at my phone, wondering if I should report the situation, then gave up, draped an arm over my bag, and rolled onto my other side. Let someone else deal with it.
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  “Damn.” I wanted to think that, but I couldn’t. Only I had a sufficiently high-level bag and, consequently, a firearm. Even though they’d take the machine gun off me, a submachine gun would be enough to deal with all sort of rabble. overall, I was much stronger than most other veterans. We were already developing new terminology, and people like me were being called the ‘elite’.

  I wasn’t afraid of the mission… I had a weapon, an escape card, two servants, and a very impressive skill set. Judging by the single slot and the F- rank, something quite small and not overly dangerous had arrived this time, at least for the players. After all, even a goblin appearing in a public place and ready to kill could cause a lot of trouble. An alien could potentially pop up anywhere on the planet, say, inside an apartment... It was an unpleasant thought, and even if the probability of that happening was close to zero, someone would get unlucky sooner or later. It was a good reason to get a dog.

  “Legion! Into the container!”

  I packed up the servant, looked at my phone again but decided not to call. Rank F-. An easy mission, I’d seen them mentioned in the chat, and there usually weren’t any problems. What could possibly go wrong? There and back again, and no one would be the wiser. It would also be a chance to check if the apartment under surveillance or not. If I was being watched, I’d definitely get into trouble for this heroic feat. Scribbling a note wouldn’t do any harm.